


Breathe For Me

by trysomecats



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alpha Harry, Alternate Universe, M/M, Meet-Cute, Omega Louis, Phobias
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-07
Updated: 2017-11-07
Packaged: 2019-01-30 14:16:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12655194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trysomecats/pseuds/trysomecats
Summary: “Harry Styles?” A voice called out, and Harry blinked in shock as he was assaulted by a sweet, luscious scent. There was an omega standing in the doorway, and his looks certainly matched his smell.Or, Harry is an alpha with a severe phobia of needles, and Louis is the cute omega phlebotomist who needs to get a blood sample from him.





	Breathe For Me

There were plenty of of things that Harry could be doing now, at ten o’clock on a Tuesday morning. He could be working, for instance, as he was already getting too far behind in paperwork as it was, due to recent circumstances.

 

But here he was, at a hospital, sitting uncomfortably in the laboratory waiting room.

 

For several weeks now, Harry had been feeling tired. Eventually that tiredness had turned to straight up exhaustion. The problem was that nothing had changed; He still got his eight hours of sleep every night, ate healthy most of the time, and took vitamins every morning. There was no explanation for his tiredness.

 

It was finally Harry’s mum who had convinced him to go to see his primary care physician, especially when his limbs began to form a gradual ache. He only had to explain the basics of his symptoms to the doctor before the man immediately gave him instructions to go to the hospital for a blood test, to see if he had contracted lyme disease.

 

There were two problems with this. One, Harry had no recollection of being bit by a tick. Sure, he spent a lot of time outside taking pictures when he wasn’t stuck in his office working, but he always used bug spray when going through fields, and he would have surely spotted a tick had it bit him.

 

Secondly, Harry didn’t do well with blood, nor did he enjoy needles. Combining these two things did not sound fun whatsoever. It was a borderline phobia of blood that he had, Harry had realized early on in his childhood. Whenever he or somebody else got hurt enough to bleed, it send shivers down his spine and made his hands feel cold and clammy.

 

Needles were even worse. Harry had many unpleasant memories of being held down, screaming and kicking in terror for all of his vaccinations as a pup. Then as a teenager the tantrums stopped, but he always grew faint (and even passed out once) during any procedure that involved a needle.

 

The even bigger problem was the fact that he was now an alpha. Alphas were supposed to keep their fears under the wraps. Harry wasn’t one to conform to society, but he couldn’t help but be a bit embarrassed about his irrational fear.

 

“Harry Styles?” A voice called out, and Harry blinked in shock as he was surrounded by a sweet, luscious scent. There was an omega standing in the doorway, and his looks certainly matched his smell.

 

He was wearing a white lab coat, but it was a bit too big on him, the sleeves falling slightly past his fingers. He wore cute pink scrubs underneath the coat, and _toms_ , good lord! For a moment Harry nearly forgot himself, staring open mouthed as he was caught in the omega’s beauty. He usually didn’t react this way. He was a professional lawyer after all, not some horny newly presented alpha.

 

“Um, that’s me.” Harry cringed at the sound of his own voice, high and squeaky.

 

The omega, who was likely the lab assistant, grinned. “You’re here for a blood test, right? Come on and follow me.”

 

Harry stood up to follow him. He almost choked on his own breath as he saw the omega’s big, delectable looking bum through the outline of the white medical coat. He had to tell himself that this was not the time to get distracted by the phlebotomist's assistant.

 

When they entered the room, the omega gestured to the reclining chair and grinned. “Take a seat Mr. Styles. You can call me Louis, okay?”

 

“Okay,” The alpha smiled, feeling his nervousness fade away slightly from the omega’s friendly expression. Omegas were often a soothing presence for alphas, which is why he could feel his shoulders lessen with tension. “You can call me Harry.”

 

“Right then Harry,” said Louis, holding his paperwork. “So we’re testing you for lyme?”

 

Harry wrinkled his nose. “My doctor thinks I might have it, yes.”

 

Louis raised an eyebrow. “And you don’t think you have it?”

 

“Well, I don’t remember ever getting a tick bite.”

 

“Sometimes it’s impossible to tell. Trust me, it’s better to be safe than sorry.”

 

“I guess so.”

 

Louis seemed amused by his reluctance, reaching for a set of rubber gloves. “Well, I’ll get this over with as quickly as I can. I’m going to need to look for a good vein first, okay? Let’s get started.”

 

“Wait a moment,” Harry sat up straighter. “Are _you_ going to be the one drawing my blood?”

 

Louis finished snapping his gloves on and looked up. “Well, yeah, of course. Do you have a problem with that?”

 

Harry looked back in horror. “It’s just that- you’re-”  


_You’re quite possibly the cutest omega I’ve ever laid eyes on before, and we only met five minutes ago and I already want to marry you and have twenty babies and three cats and a goldfish. I don’t want to look like a complete fool in front of you because I always cry like a baby whenever I’m around blood, I’ll leave a horrible first impression._

 

That was what Harry wanted to say. Unfortunately he could only stare with wide eyes, unable to go into a rational explanation.

 

Louis’ lips grew thinner. “I can assure you _Mr. Styles_ , being an omega has nothing to do with how well someone can draw blood. I was top of my class during my phlebotomy training, and I’ve been working in this lab for two years now, with no bad incidents whatsoever. But if you feel that you’re too superior to be here, then you can just rightly go fuck off.”

 

Harry’s eyes had grown ever wider during Louis’ speech, and now his mouth was agape.

 

“I wasn’t trying to imply anything about your gender!” He blurted out, horrified that he had unintentionally offended the omega. “It’s just- I have a phobia of blood, and needles terrify me, a-and you’re really good looking and I don’t want to seem pathetic and...and I’ve said _too_ _much_!”

 

“Wha-?” Louis’ eyes narrowed, but then his shoulders instantly relaxed, an adorable smile lighting up his face. “That’s all?”

 

Harry slumped in his chair, resisting the urge to cover his face with his hands. “Never had my blood drawn before...m’scared of it.”

 

The alpha flinched when a latex covered hand rested on his hand. “Hey, s’alright Harry. Can I tell you something?”

 

Harry nodded, feeling incredibly stupid due to the lump forming in his throat, and the fact that he had just blurted out his little infatuation with his omega phlebotomist.

 

“You’re definitely not the only alpha who’s been here with a phobia,” Louis told him comfortingly. “Just yesterday one in his fifties had to bring his daughter along, because he was very frightened of needles.”

 

“My sister said she’d drag me here herself if I didn’t go today,” Harry told the omega forlornly, causing him to giggle.

 

“You have nothing to worry about love, I’ll take very good care of you.”

 

Louis’ words had Harry blushing now. He was filled with so many different emotions, currently caught between terror at what was going to happen and swooning over the omega phlebotomist’s reassurance.

 

“First, we’re going to recline the chair back a little, so you don’t have to sit up.”

 

“Okay,” Harry agreed, and Louis used the chair’s buttons to adjust its position so that Harry was reclining.

 

“Now you wait here a moment while I get a few things to help calm you down.”

 

Harry waited, trying to pretend that he was anyplace but here until Louis soon came back. He was carrying a white blanket, a styrofoam cup, and a small rubber ball.

 

“There we go,” Louis spread the blanket out over the alpha. Harry let out a pleased sigh to find out that it had been heated, warming him to the core. Louis also passed Harry the colorful rubber ball. “This is for you to squeeze, since there’s nobody to hold your hand.”

 

“Thank you,” Harry was so incredibly grateful.

 

“Now, I’m going to walk you through every step of the way. We’ll go nice and slowly, okay?”

 

Louis waited for Harry to nod before he gently took one of the alpha’s arms into his own, turning it over so that his wrist was facing up. He began tapping the skin, explaining that he was just finding a suitable vein.

 

“You’ve got a nice looking one in the crook of your elbow,” Louis told him. “I’m just going to disinfect the area with a wet wipe. It’ll be a little cold.”

 

Even with the warning, Harry still flinched, squeezing his eyes shut tightly. His head was starting to spin a little, his breathing increasing. The omega gave him arm a gentle pat of encouragement.

 

“Now I’m going to put the needle in,” Louis said, his voice still incredibly soothing. “And just so you know, I think you’re incredibly good looking as well. If I wasn’t drawing your blood, I would definitely be holding your hand right now.”

 

Harry’s eyes shot open at that, just as he felt a slight prick in the crook of his arm. He hardly flinched, the needle a mile away from his thoughts as he openly gaped at the omega phlebotomist.

 

“Breathe for me love,” Louis instructed, and Harry realized that he was running out of air. He took a deep breath through his nose. His eyes strayed downward and it finally caught up to him that there was a large needle in his arm.

 

“You’re doing so well for me,” The omega’s praise brought Harry’s mind back to the more important matter at hand- an attractive witty omega that thought he was good looking!

 

“And….done! There, that wasn’t so bad, was it?” Louis had extracted the needle and pressed a small gauze pad over the puncture. “I told you I was good at this.”

 

“It’s finished?” Harry finally founds words. “That was quick.”

 

“You did wonderfully,” Louis grinned. “Just rest up for a minute. Lean back in the chair and take some deep breaths. I thought you were gonna pass out on me for a moment there.”

 

Harry did as he was instructed, relaxing in the chair and focusing on his breathing. He was still stunned over the fact that he hadn’t shed any tears or actually fainted. He also couldn’t take his eyes off Louis, who got to work on storing the blood sample away to be tested.

 

Louis came back, bringing some bandaid selections with him. “I’ve got normal, blue, or pink. What’ll it be?”

 

One pink bandage later, Harry’s appointment for getting his blood drawn was over.

 

“You’ll get a call from the lab in a couple of days to find out whether or not you have lyme. Until then, I would continue to take it easy. Don’t do anything too strenuous, I have a feeling it’s going to be positive.”

 

“Right,” Harry nodded, suddenly feeling rather bashful. “Um, would taking you out to dinner this Friday be too strenuous?”

 

“Yes,” Louis said, and instantly all remaining courage that Harry had was shattered.

 

But the omega wasn’t finished.

 

“I’m going to give you my number. You’ll text me your address, and then I’ll come over on Friday with stuffed-crust pizza. How does that sound?”

 

Relief and excitement washed over the alpha all at once, and he found himself beaming with happiness. “That sounds perfect.”

 

Louis actually let out a _purr_ of contentment. “Excellent.”

 

Five days later, Harry was happy to be cuddled up with his new boyfriend watching Grease and eating pizza, even if he did have lyme disease. He’d started the antibiotics two days ago and already he was beginning to feel better, though the gorgeous omega in his arms certainly helped matters as well.

 

Maybe needles weren’t so bad afterall.

 

* * *

 

Visit me on Tumblr at [Trysomecats](http://trysomecats.tumblr.com) :)  


**Author's Note:**

> I hope ya'll enjoy this quick little fic! <3


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